Wednesday, 2 September 2015

Artisanal and small-scale miners in Africa are making history as they work towards ethical certification.

The challenges faced by the five million artisanal and small-scale
miners (ASM) in Africa are particularly acute. There is an exceptionally
low level of mechanisation; little health and safety and endemic use of
the lethal element mercury in gold processing. In return for these
dangers, miners are often underpaid and exploited by local traders.

Most mining laws in Africa, as well as those in Asia and Latin
America, are geared towards large-scale industrial mining, thus
excluding small-scale mining operations. This leads to informal and
illegal set-ups with hazardous conditions. It is a $1 (66p) per day
economy, often populated by those with no options left, whose children
put their health in danger at the mines: to make extra money for their
families or simply because of a lack of childcare.

Now, thanks to a grant from Comic Relief, 900 miners in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda are working towards Fairtrade certification.
It’s hoped that the first Fairtrade African gold will reach the UK this
summer. These miners are proving that, with organisation and training,
poor working conditions, unfair pay, child labour, women’s rights,
health and safety and environmental damage can all begin to be tackled.

If standards can be achieved, the organisations will join Fairtrade.
They will also help promote responsible mining practices among the
continent’s other ASM gold miners. They will be proof that change is
possible.
Egessa Paul, who has been mining since childhood, says of recent
developments, “The difference is that we have protective gear - and we
have a rock-crushing machine. It takes two hours to crush rocks by hand
and just thirty minutes with the machine.”

Fairtrade gold has been available in the UK from pilot schemes in Latin America
since 2011. Miners there have reported substantial improvements. The
lack of mechanisation In Africa means production levels there are lower.
However the training the miners have received means productivity is
beginning to increase.
Up to half of the ASM workforce in Africa are women, the highest
percentage of any continent. They transport ore, crush and grind the
rocks and purify the gold with mercury, often working with young babies
on their backs and toddlers at their side.

Mercury poisoning can lead to kidney, sight and speech problems,
muscular tremors, seizures and can be fatal. Medical facilities are
negligible. Jennifer Nafula, a miner of 10 years, heads a miners’
women’s group and says her main role is to educate the other women on
using mercury as safely as they can. Many believe their children are
suffering sight defects as a result of mercury vapours and ingesting
contaminated water.
“We are grateful that we now know about mercury,” says Naomi Onega, a
mother of two. “The next generation won’t have the same exposure. We
won’t let children close to mercury-burning. Breast feeding mothers will
stay away.”

There are many other dangers - pits collapsing, miners drowning in
flash floods, children killed in accidents, malnutrition and people
swallowing gold to steal from friends. But the miners, together with
Fairtrade gold’s Greg Valerio, are optimistic. “If we do it right, and
there’s still a lot of work to do, we’ll have the only traceable, legal
gold supply chain in Uganda,” Valerio told miners on a recent trip.
“What you’ll see here is more than Fairtrade. We are establishing that
it is possible to do gold mining transparently. It is no exaggeration
that these four groups are making history in Uganda.”

The Fairtrade Foundation is aware that there is a long way to go
until Fairtrade gold comes as easily to mind as Fairtrade bananas and
coffee. Work is continuing apace. A briefing has just been published to
explain the complexities behind the industry and the revised Fairtrade
Standards for Gold and Precious Metals which encourage best practice.

And this week the ‘I Do’
campaign has been launched ahead of Valentine’s Day – to encourage
50,000 couples to buy Fairtrade gold rings. There is enthusiasm for the
idea. The Foundation’s research shows that consumers believe buying
jewellery for a special occasion would hold greater value and
significance if it carried the FAIRTRADE Mark.

Just like a marriage, Fairtrade is about togetherness. Miner Dan
Odiba, from the Micodepro group in Kenya, certainly agrees. “Previously
every miner worked on his own,” he says. “Now we mine as a group,
process our ore together as a group and sell as a group. Today we are
privileged to work collectively.”

Sunday, 19 July 2015

The Fairtrade Marketing Organization Eastern Africa
(FMOEA) has organized a two day road trip to the Sireet Outgrowers in
Nandi County, Kenya, for the Universities For Fairtrade Brand
Ambassadors, slated for 23rd and 24th July 2015.

The participants, selected Fairtrade Brand Ambassadors drawn from
various universities will learn first-hand, how Fairtrade Premiums works
and will mingle with the beneficiaries of these projects.

To follow the activities on these 2 days, visit https://www.facebook.com/events/640771129393828/